The present invention generally pertains to treatment of organically contaminated material and is particularly directed to decomposing organic compounds in the contaminated material by irradiating the material with a beam of high energy radiation.
It is known to decompose organic compounds in contaminated material by irradiating the material with a beam of high energy radiation, such as an electron beam, x-rays or gamma-rays, as the contaminated material is transported past the beam source. The radiated high energy beam breaks up complex molecules and water molecules to form radicals that react with the contaminant organic compounds to form compounds such as water, carbon dioxide and oxygen and thereby decompose the contaminant organic compounds.